Movies and Television
When We Were Kings is a 1996 Academy Award-winning documentary film about the "Rumble in the Jungle", Ali's legendary 1974 fight against George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
The High School Cheer squad in Happy Harbor on the cartoon Young Justice use Ali "Floats like a butterfly Stings like a bee" line as their cheer. The Schools team name is the bumblebee's.
Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami is a 2008 WLRN documentary which charts Cassius Clay's remarkable transformation from young boxing hopeful to cultural icon. The film traces Ali’s stunning rise through the heavyweight ranks, his friendship with Malcolm X, his historic clash with champion Sonny Liston, and his subsequent refusal to fight in Vietnam.
a.k.a. Cassius Clay is a 1970 documentary that covered Ali's triumphs and setbacks up to that moment in time.
Numerous individuals have portrayed Ali in film biographies, including Ali himself in the 1977 film, The Greatest. Others include:
- Will Smith, in the 2001 film, Ali
- Maestro Harrell, in the 2001 film, Ali (portraying a young Cassius Clay)
- Terrence Howard, in the 2000 ABC TV movie, King of the World
- Jamie "Showtime" Stafford, in the 2000 ABC TV movie, King of the World (portraying a young Cassius Clay)
- David Ramsey, in the 2000 Fox TV movie, Ali: An American Hero
- Aaron Meeks, in the 2000 Fox TV movie, Ali: An American Hero (portraying a young Cassius Clay)
- Darius McCrary, in the 1997 HBO TV movie, Don King: Only in America
- Future Amazing Race winner Chip McAllister, in the 1977 film, The Greatest (portraying a young adult Cassius Clay)
- Jerrod Paige, in the 2007 film, American Gangster
Ali has appeared as himself in numerous scripted films and television series, including the films Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), Body and Soul (1981), and Doin' Time (1985); and the television series Vega$ (1979), Diff'rent Strokes (1979), and Touched by an Angel (1999). He also provided the voice for the titular character in the 1977 NBC animated series, I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali.
Ali portrayed a former slave in Reconstruction-era Virginia who is elected to the United States Senate in the 1979 NBC TV movie Freedom Road, which was based upon the 1944 novel by Howard Fast.
Ali is featured prominently in a series of ESPN specials in honor of his 65th birthday. The shows include Ali Rap, Ali's Dozen and Ali 65. They premiered on December 9, 2006 at 9 pm EST on ESPN. Ali's fight with Larry Holmes was also the subject of one of ESPN's "30 for 30" documentary series; "Muhammad and Larry" by Albert Maysles first aired on ESPN on October 27, 2009.
Ali appeared on the WGBH series Say Brother, where he spoke about his reasons for not serving in the Vietnam War.
Facing Ali is a 2009 documentary on the topic of all the fighters which Ali faced during his career. Each one is interviewed at length. The film made the shortlist for the 82nd Academy Awards in the category of Best Documentary Feature, but did not make final list.
His boxing gloves made an appearance on the Christmas episode of Warehouse 13. Anyone on the vicinity of them "sees stars' without being hit. Was used by Claudia to make the Warehouse more festive.
- The character Apollo Creed from Rocky is heavily based off Ali.
- In the Total Drama Action episode, "Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen", Duncan mentions Muhammad Ali after Harold's reaction to bees.
Read more about this topic: Muhammad Ali In Media And Popular Culture
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“Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Commercial jazz, soap opera, pulp fiction, comic strips, the movies set the images, mannerisms, standards, and aims of the urban masses. In one way or another, everyone is equal before these cultural machines; like technology itself, the mass media are nearly universal in their incidence and appeal. They are a kind of common denominator, a kind of scheme for pre-scheduled, mass emotions.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–62)
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—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)